USA, Portland: Gay Film Review – Breaking Through

We went to this film expecting a biopic about Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown, who is openly lesbian.

What we got, instead, was a wide-ranging documentary about politicians who are proudly out all around the country.

Here in Oregon, the story focused on two out Supreme Court justices – Virginia Linder and Rives Kistler – who, along with Kate Brown were both in attendance.

Brown dodged a question from the audience about whether she would seek the Governorship, asying it was probably time to end the questions.

The film itself is beautifully shot, and includes some revelations, including that Houston Mayor Annise Parker went through a difficult stage in her youth where she was a “cutter”, hurting herself to deal with a deep depression before learning to accept and become proud of being a lesbian.

For al their differences, the stories all share a common theme… overcoming bgotry and internal homophobia to enter into public service in a proud and open way.

One of the most moving stories was that of Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who ran for the post in Texas as an openly lesbian latina woman. Even her family was against it, until she met with a group of her nieces and nephews, who wholeheartedly encouraged her to run.

On election night, she came from behind initially to win the post. And she found out later that one of her brothers, who had been adamantly opposed to her campaign, had been on the phone all night with other siblings, relaying the vote tallies. And how excited they all were when he actually won.

It’s a great film, one that any aspiring LGBT politician (and the rest of us, for that matter) should watch. It made me immensely proud of our LGBT community.

1 Comments so far ↓

Appalling that you would state that Kate Brown is open as a lesbian. She is open as a bisexual. Please correct this factual error. Not only is it incorrect it is offensive and harmful to the bisexual community.